XFINITY Class Action Filed Over Unauthorized Cell Phone Purchases

Comcast Corporation and Comcast Cable Communications LLC d/b/a XFINITY Mobile is facing a class action lawsuit accusing the company of opening XFINITY Mobile accounts for cable and internet customers without their knowledge and failing to safeguard their personal information.

“In an apparent effort to grow its fledgling mobile business segment, Comcast leveraged the personal account information of its existing cable and internet customers to allow the opening of XFINITY Mobile accounts through its online customer portal,” Elizabeth O’Neil says in the XFINITY Mobile class action lawsuit.

O’Neil, an Illinois resident, says this policy has enabled Comcast’s existing customers’ accounts to be accessed without their authorization, and unauthorized users have allegedly been able to purchase cell phones using established personal account information. She accuses the defendants of failing to take adequate precautions to safeguard their customers’ personal information.

Comcast and XFINITY failed to inform customers in a timely manner when their personal information was accessed by unauthorized users, the XFINITY Mobile class action lawsuit says.

According to the XFINITY Mobile class action lawsuit, O’Neil had a Comcast XFINITY account for wireless internet at her home. Although Comcast offered XFINITY Mobile to existing customers, she says she did not add the mobile service to her Comcast XFINITY account.

O’Neil says she first became aware of several cell phones charged to her Comcast XFINITY account on Nov. 2, 2017. She notified XFINITY of the unauthorized cell phone orders the same day.

On Jan. 1, 2018, O’Neil says she was notified that several iPhone X cell phones, valued at $1,149.99 each, had been charged to her account. Again, she immediately informed XFINITY about these unauthorized charges and was transferred to the company’s fraud department.

“Plaintiff learned that after automatically opening XFINITY Mobile accounts for customers without their knowledge or consent, Defendants created the ability to purchase cell phones and order cell service through their website using already established account information from customers’ Xfinity internet and cable accounts,” the XFINITY Mobile class action lawsuit says.

As a result of the unauthorized cell phone purchases, O’Neil was forced to spend time and resources to resolve the matter and to protect her personal and account information from further exploitation.

O’Neil says her experience is not unique. She filed the XFINITY class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed Class of “[a]ll consumers for whom XFINITY Mobile accounts were opened without their permission and subsequently billed for cell phones ordered by unauthorized third parties.”

The XFINITY Mobile class action lawsuit asserts claims for violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, breach of implied contract, and unjust enrichment.

O’Neil seeks damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, injunctive and declaratory relief, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, and other relief the court deems appropriate.

The plaintiff is represented by William M. Sweetnam and Natasha Singh of Sweetnam LLC.

The XFINITY Mobile Unauthorized Cell Phone Purchase Class Action Lawsuit is Elizabeth O’Neil v. Comcast Corporation, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-04249, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.